Whose Fault is it?

Whose Fault is it?

Each and every day brings such sad lookouts on Higher Education that one wonders who is actually in the wrong- the students or the administrations that are responsible for looking out for our future generation. Then “voila” in the midst of all the shenanigans you have someone like Elizabeth Cook a UTSA doctoral student, who is trying to make a difference by using her fellowship award for research.

Click on the link below to read about her in the article written by Erika Bruno, it talks about Ms.Cook’s effort to improve education and her advice for her fellow students-

“Be serious and focus on what you want out of a program. Be honest and ask questions about the courses and research, and connect with faculty that can help you along the way.”

A very sound advice and our future entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, etc need it, instead of being indecisive about what they are going to do once the ultimate goal is reached; getting admission in a university. It is very common to switch majors nowadays by students on the pretext of “not interesting enough” or the course is boring or too hard. Then to come across the preview of the book “Clueless IN Academe”: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind by Gerald Graff boggles the mind into thinking ” Yes”, whose fault is it, the student or the system?

Love the Intro title of the book” In the Dark All Eggheads are Gray” and the starting para-

This Book is an attempt by an academic to look at academia from the perspective of those who don’t get it. Its subject is cluelessness, the bafflement, usually accompanied by shame and resentment felt by students, the general public, and even many academics in the face of the impenetrability of the academic world. It examines some overlooked ways in which schools and colleges themselves reinforce cluelessness and thus perpetuate the misconception that the life of the mind is a secret society for which only an elite few qualify.

The few pages that I came across got me thinking are we the ones who are breeding this indecisiveness in our coming future? Something for all of us to ponder on…..